A Fabulous Day

Yesterday started off with an oil and vinegar tasting and ended with a wine tasting. My kind of day!

And the moments in between were all wonderful, too. Here are my 4 favorite events of the day (besides the oil and vinegar tasting—I already wrote about that in my previous blog entry):


1. Ducks and Rats

On the walk back from the oil & vinegar tasting and shopping, my friend Diane and I stopped on the Dearborn Street bridge to watch a mother duck and her ducklings swimming down the river. They were so adorable that we decided to walk down the stairs to river-level to watch them. Did you know that ducklings don’t quack? They tweet! And it’s the cutest little tweeting you ever could hear. Diane and I sat to watch them, and a moment later, we saw a rat running out from behind a pillar, and then run back behind it. Twice more, we saw the rat dart out. The third time, the rat kept running and got a little too close to us. We decided that it was probably best to get the hell out of there.

2. The Reagle Beagle

OK, so no one likes the Reagle Beagle as much as I do. Truth be told, it has a limited menu and is a little overpriced. Maybe I like the idea more than the actual place. Either way, we had fun. I enjoyed being Chrissy, and hanging out with Jack Tripper, Janet, and Mr. Furley. Mr. Furley entertained us with stories of strange objects that he saw earlier in the day on North Avenue Beach. (I won’t elaborate. Trust me, it ain’t pretty.)

3. The Wine Tasting

Buck had a bottle of estate Sauvignon Blanc wine from a Texas winery. To do the tasting, he purchased 2 additional bottles of Sauvignon Blanc from Trader Joe’s—a Chilean wine and of course, the requisite 2-buck Chuck. Buck had been holding on to the bottle of estate wine for a while, and we looked forward to trying it and comparing it to the others. Iwanski set up the blind taste test. Two of the wines we enjoyed, but one of them was very sour and bitter-tasting. Guess which one that was? The estate wine! We were surprised. The 2-buck Chuck came in second, and the Chilean wine was the favorite. The best part was that the Chilean wine was only $4.99. Score!

4. The Game

We decided to play a “game” (that’s what I call it, anyway) where we each wrote our names down on a piece of paper, and then every other person had to write down 5 things they like about you. At the end, each person had a list of 15 nice things the others thought about him or her. It was a fun exercise that turned out to be a nice little self-esteem boost for each of us.

We also each wrote down 5 goals that we had for our lives. We all hoped that writing our goals down would be the first step toward making them become reality. It was fascinating to hear what everyone’s goals were.


Today, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I live in a city with delightful natural and culinary experiences around every corner, and I get to experience them with the most wonderful friends one could have.

I am very blessed.